Winter Pear and Blueberry Crumble

Today is Barefoot Thursday and today's Barefoot Blogger challenge is a peach and blueberry crumble. Sorry to say, however, I did not use peaches. Crumbles are a real favourite with me. Any time of year and any flavour. I would have loved to be serving you up the Barefoot Challenge of a peach crumble today, but there are no peaches around here for at least another four or five months. And even if I could have found them, they probably would have travelled further than Captain Cook. So I am giving you an adapted winter crumble with pears subbing in for the peaches. Lucky for me, it worked beautifully. The sweet and juicy pears were balanced by the lemon zest and the sprinkling of tart blueberries, while the crunchy topping gave a great texture contrast to the melting fruit.

This was very delicious. So good in fact, that if I had had leftovers, I might have been tempted to put some on my muesli this morning. Good thing I got it outof the house pronto! I suggest you do the same, or you may wind up with crumble in your muesli too.

The Barefoot Bloggers are slowly working their way through the cookbooks of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, who specialises in completely achievable AND completely delicious food. This recipe was picked by Aggie of Aggie's Kitchen. Thanks Aggie.

Pear and Blueberry Crumble

adapted from "The Barefoot Contessa at Home" by Ina Garten

For the fruit
1 kg ripe pears
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup plain flour
1 cup fresh blueberries

For the Crumble
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
125g cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Peel the pears, slice them into thick wedges, and place them in a large bowl. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, granulated sugar, and flour. Toss well. Gently mix in the blueberries. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Spoon the mixture into ramekins or custard cups.

For the topping, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it’s in big crumbles, then sprinkle evenly over the fruit. Place the ramekins on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and back for 40 to 45 minutes, until the tops are browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature. If you want to make these early, store the unbaked crumbles in the refrigerator and bake before dinner. Serves 5 to 6.